SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Emily Lake of Naples, working toward a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at Western New England University, is among more than 100 students who presented product development and innovation projects on Dec. 8 at a Product Innovation Showcase.

The showcase was held in Rivers Memorial Hall at the university campus.

Lake’s project, Smart Sheets, is a motorized system designed to spread, tighten, and tuck sheets across a bed with zero effort by the user.

The showcase is the culmination of a co-curricular course where entrepreneurial teams of engineering and business students collaborate for an entire semester to turn new product ideas into marketable products. Engineering students develop a functional prototype, while business students develop the preliminary marketing strategy and business plan for the product. A few of the product concepts will be submitted for patents and have the potential to get commercialized.

Visit the entire collection of unique innovations at wne.edu.

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